1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a rolling contact bearing, and, in particular, to a roller-cage assembly for use in such a rolling contact bearing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A roller-cage assembly for use in a bearing is well known in the art, and it includes a cage which is a frame for maintaining uniform spacing between the rollers in a bearing. For example, the roller-cage assembly is used to support an end of a large shaft of an internal combustion engine. And, as the performance of the engine is improved, the roller-cage assembly is required to withstand increased loads. In order to withstand a large load, it is desired to provide more rollers for a given pitch diameter. The maximum number of rollers may be provided if no cage is provided to hold the rollers as spaced apart from each other at a predetermined spacing. However, this would cause other disadvantages, such as skewing and escaping of the rollers and difficulty in assembly steps. Thus, it is better to provide a cage for holding the rollers at a predetermined spacing so as not to cause other disadvantages.
Japanese Utility Model Application, No. 51-33608 (Laid-Open Pub. No. 52-124353), assigned to the assignee of this application, discloses a roller-cage assembly capable of holding an increased number of rollers at a predetermined spacing. However, the roller-cage assembly proposed in that Utility Model Application has some structural constraints, so that difficulty is encountered in manufacture and the number of manufacturing steps is large. Thus, there has been a need to provide an improved roller-cage assembly for use in a rolling contact bearing.